Say our employees and associates – via Glassdoor

I was humbled to hear the news that we’ve been ranked the 2nd best place to work in the UK in Glassdoor’s Employees’ Choice Awards 2020. And we share the podium with two very prestigious tech companies.

One of our shared principles is that we value client success over getting recognition. It is much more important to us that our customers win awards instead of Equal Experts – for the outcomes we have helped them achieve.

However, when I founded Equal Experts I had a main driver. I wanted to create a haven where both IT expert practitioners and customers could work together in harmony,  focusing on long term mutual value instead of one-sided short term gain. I wanted to create an organisation of “grown-ups” – a working environment with less politics, less hierarchy  and more autonomy – where we speak the truth to clients, where we are humble enough to say we don’t have all the answers, where we have enough empathy to support each other, and share our customers’ pain.   I wanted to create a space where it is easy to have genuine relationships, built on trust – between every member of the network, employees, associates and customers.

To make this happen, we pioneered a new business model.  Our consultants have around 10 years’ experience or more in the industry. At Equal Experts, they can still be “makers” and practice their craft instead of moving into management positions, and they can keep learning from people as experienced as them.  We also decided to follow an associate-based model, with only one third of our workforce permanent employees, the remainder is made up of long-standing associates (independent senior contractors and freelancers). Associates are in majority recruited through recommendations from other members of the network and selected based on a set of values shared by all the Equal Experts’ consultants.

So, of all the awards we could have possibly received, this one is actually quite special for me.  

While I believe Equal Experts still has a way to go before it becomes the kind of organization I think it should be, this award shows me that we are going in the right direction.

I would like to thank everyone who worked with Equal Experts, employees and ex-employees, associates and alumni, other team members from different organisations and all our past and current customers for making all this possible.

I can not resist to share some of my favorite soundbites from Equal Experts employees and associates quoted directly from Glassdoor: 

“You have the flexibility to try new things without the corporate noise to hinder every initiative. Genuinely inspiring people here. “

“Opportunity to grow and learn every day (…). I love working with grown ups but we still have fun.”

“Good work life balance, no divas, no slackers, just nice and normal people you are happy to work with”

“Your opinion is actively sought and valued.  You have the opportunity to influence at all levels.  There is a real team feel – individuals respect and support each other.  Autonomy – you are trusted to do the right thing and to use your expertise.”

“A true values driven organisation that has progressive ways of working and attitudes to their people.  Always seeking to learn, evolve and to do better. A world apart from the usual traditional IT consultancies and all the better for it.  A focus on doing what’s right for clients and their people above office politics and profits.”

See the complete list of the Glassdoor Best Places to Work winners in 2020 here.